While configuring Contact Form 7 Mail, properly setting the value for the From field is extremely important. Otherwise, the email may be seen as spam.
In this article, we show you the values not to use in the From field.
Some From email addresses to NOT use
Don’t use the following email addresses:
1. Don’t use the customer’s email address
Some Contact Form 7 users assume the From field should be the email address of the person submitting the form – but this is usually a really bad idea.
It’s important to realize that Contact Form 7 is using the normal email sending process, when it sends an email after a user fills in a form on your site. It’s using WordPress to do it, but it’s really no different from you sending an email from your computer.
If you use the customer’s email address in the From field, then you are effectively sending an email from an email address with their domain name … and you’re doing that from your website which has a different domain name.
WARNING! – the From email address domain doesn’t match the website domain where it was sent from
The big problem is that is also what spammers do when they send out 1000’s of emails – it’s called email spoofing. So when you do this, you may look like a spammer to many mail servers around the world.
Tip: If you use a customers email address in the From field, it is now likely that some your form emails will be rejected as spam by many mail providers.
2. Don’t use your personal address if it’s not associated with your website
Another common error is using your ‘usual’ or personal email address in the From: field. For example, let’s say your usual email is cf7pro@gmail.com and you enter this as the From: address.
Nowadays that’s likely to be a problem because your Gmail email address is not hosted on your website domain – it’s hosted by Google on their big flash mail servers.
Tip: Because your Contact Form 7 form is sending an email with a From: email address domain that doesn’t match your website domain, you again look like a spammer to the world’s mail servers.
Your users may see CF7 error messages
In fact, the email may not even send because gmail.com is not a domain handled by your mail server. Some hosting companies will just not send emails via WordPress unless they are from a valid email address on your website domain.
In this case, your users will get a red error message saying ..
Tip: If you do need to use your Gmail address then you may need to use SMTP to send your emails from Contact Form 7.
Further reading
Have questions or need help?
If you are using the free version of CF7 Skins, you can get help via the CF7 Skins community and also the Contact Form 7 Support forum.
If you are using any of our Add-ons, we provide Premium Email Support to help with your questions and problems.
